{"id":4191,"date":"2010-09-17T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2010-09-17T17:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gtdtimes.com\/?p=4191"},"modified":"2014-10-05T21:45:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-06T04:45:00","slug":"david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There is never a moment at which you could do everything you&#8217;ve decided to to, simply because most of those actions require a specific tool or location. Context is also the first criterion that limits your options and keeps you from being reminded of things you simply can&#8217;t do.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re like me, and find it useful to track of all   things to talk to your spouse about, stuff to pick up at the store, and emails you need to compose. It&#8217;s a lot easier to simply turn to a list that already has things to do sorted by their context, where you can see your eight calls in one click glance.- David Allen<\/p>\n<p>Some suggested contexts to get started (p.144 of <a href=\"https:\/\/secure.davidco.com\/store\/catalog\/GETTING-THINGS-DONE-PAPERBACK-p-16175.php\" target=\"_blank\">Getting Things Done<\/a>):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Agendas<\/li>\n<li>Anywhere<\/li>\n<li>Calls<\/li>\n<li>Computer<\/li>\n<li>Errands<\/li>\n<li>Home<\/li>\n<li>Office<\/li>\n<li>Waiting For<\/li>\n<li>and lists for Projects and Someday Maybe<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more detail on setting up contexts, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/secure.davidco.com\/store\/catalog\/GTD-Setup-Guides-p-1-c-263.php\" target=\"_blank\">GTD Setup Guides<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is never a moment at which you could do everything you&#8217;ve decided to to, simply because most of those actions require a specific tool or location. Context is also the first criterion that limits your options and keeps you from being reminded of things you simply can&#8217;t do. If you&#8217;re like me, and find &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,32],"tags":[22,745,29,69,46,100,109,125],"class_list":["post-4191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-david-allen","category-productivity-tips","tag-getting-things-done","tag-david-allen","tag-gtd","tag-implementing-gtd","tag-implementation","tag-tips-and-tricks","tag-gtd-best-practices","tag-tasks","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-17T17:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-06T04:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\"},\"headline\":\"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-17T17:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-06T04:45:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/\"},\"wordCount\":170,\"commentCount\":12,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Getting Things Done\",\"David Allen\",\"GTD\",\"Implementing GTD\",\"Implementation\",\"Tips and Tricks\",\"GTD Best Practices\",\"Tasks\"],\"articleSection\":[\"David Allen\",\"Productivity Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/\",\"name\":\"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-17T17:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-06T04:45:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\",\"name\":\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\",\"description\":\"David Allen&#039;s GTD\u00ae Methodology\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Getting Things Done\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png\",\"width\":370,\"height\":338,\"caption\":\"Getting Things Done\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/gtdtimes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gtdtimes\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2328651\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\",\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"GTD Times Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/author\/webadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters","description":"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters","og_description":"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters","og_url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/","og_site_name":"Getting Things Done\u00ae","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/","article_published_time":"2010-09-17T17:00:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-06T04:45:00+00:00","author":"GTD Times Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gtdtimes","twitter_site":"@gtdtimes","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"GTD Times Staff","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/"},"author":{"name":"GTD Times Staff","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4"},"headline":"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters","datePublished":"2010-09-17T17:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-06T04:45:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/"},"wordCount":170,"commentCount":12,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Getting Things Done","David Allen","GTD","Implementing GTD","Implementation","Tips and Tricks","GTD Best Practices","Tasks"],"articleSection":["David Allen","Productivity Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/","name":"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-09-17T17:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-06T04:45:00+00:00","description":"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/09\/david-allen-on-why-sorting-your-lists-by-contexts-even-matters\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"David Allen on why sorting your lists by contexts even matters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/","name":"Getting Things Done\u00ae","description":"David Allen&#039;s GTD\u00ae Methodology","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization","name":"Getting Things Done","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png","width":370,"height":338,"caption":"Getting Things Done"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gtdtimes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gtdtimes\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2328651\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4","name":"GTD Times Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"GTD Times Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/author\/webadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}